Chris, I use an exercise in a similar vein in my intro classes and the students respond really well. Several years ago a colleague turned me on to a PBS webpage about the social construction of race. There is a documentary that accompanies the page, but I have not seen it. However, this has not been a problem in doing the exercise with the students. The website is www.pbs.org/race and if you click on the "Learn More" link, the next page takes you to several more links. I use the "Sorting People" exercise. For this, I have made color copies of the individual photos presented there and give them to students who work in groups to identify which category the photos belong (White, Black, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian). After they have completed this, we discuss the criteria they used (which is always a lively discussion) and without failure each time I can point out that their criteria are always for groups other than white. How do they figure out who is "white"? The response is usually the "default category," they can't find anything to necessarily exclude the person from being white. I then introduce the actual webpage in class and show them how the individuals self-identify (with great quotes from the people in the photos) and this leads into a brief history of the social construction of race and the ways that physical features have been used to allow or deny resources and opportunities. The students laugh a lot in class while doing the exercise because they realize how superficial their assumptions are, but also comment that they learn how powerful these assumptions can turn out to be. I highly recommend it! -Erin Anderson
Erin K. Anderson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Sociology Washington College 300 Washington Avenue Chestertown, MD 21620 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
